Do Better
by LaikaaDisbelief
Summary: A Crenny story based on Say Anything song titles.
1. Preface: Childhood

This is my first ever fanfic, so...don't judge too hard .;

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The snow crunched softly beneath his worn boots that were quickly becoming too small for him again; perhaps Stan had an extra pair he could borrow. It was just barely evening, but already the temperature was dropping at a steady rate. He pulled the hood of his parka closer to his face to keep the brisk air from stinging the tear streaks on his face. God forbid anyone from school see him like this, red nose, crying like a little bitch. Cartman would have a field day for sure, and Stan and Kyle would pester him relentlessly about what happened. Stan would probably let it go easier than Kyle would, but it would still go on for longer than Kenny would be comfortable with. Eventually Kyle would pry the information out of him, and the whole world would know what happened. Everyone would know how weak he was, and how he couldn't even take it without crying. He shook his head to dislodge the thoughts from his mind, _Jesus Christ, stop crying already, _he thought to himself, and exhaled loudly.

Stark's pond was just ahead, and he thought back to how he left the house, bursting out the back door without even checking on Karen first… Kenny's pace slowed as he saw another kid sitting at the bank on the other side of the pond. He couldn't make out who it was, and ultimately decided it didn't matter. Still sniffing back tears, he plopped down in the snow and lifted the sleeve of his jailhouse orange parka to reveal a nasty black and purple bruise encircling his forearm. He touched the tender and heated skin with the tips of his gloved fingers and winced slightly. Cupping his hand, he dug his fingers down into the earth and scooped up some snow and rubbed it lightly across the splotchy bruise, shuttering slightly as the stinging cold of the snow leeched the heat from his skin. He stayed like that for a while, intermittently changing out the melting snow for fresh snow.

By the time he looked out across Stark's pond again, the sun was low behind the trees, casting long cool shadows and the kid on the other side of the pond was gone.


	2. Chapter 2: Less Cute

Haaa chapter one is shorter than I thought it would be. Hopefully chapter two will be longer. Probably gonna switch the POV

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Chapter 1: Less Cute

He eased the heavy door shut, but left a crack of space between it and the latch so he wouldn't be locked out and have to walk all the way around to the front of the school. Satisfied, he walked over and leaned against the half-wall where the dumpsters were lined up and pulled out a half crumpled pack of cigarettes that were surprisingly still intact even after going through Kyle's washing machine. He lit one and pocketed the rest, staring out across the junior/senior parking lot and quickly spotting his own crap-tacular 1982 Chevette with a shit brown paint job and a dusty blue hood. He had to sell his VCR, the vacuum cleaner in the back yard, and roughly one pound of pot to afford that car, and even though it was a piece of shit, it was his pride and joy. Its latest feats include: no working heat and hit or miss breaks. A couple spaces down from his car, Kyle's car pulled up and Stan and Kyle got out and waved when they spotted him.

"Hey do you finish reading that sonnet or whatever for English?" Stan asked as they approached Kenny. He shook his head and Kyle rolled his eyes "For fuck's sake Kenny! Are you gonna do any of the homework for that class? All you had to do was read fourteen lines of some jackoff's poetry. It would have literally taken you three minutes." Kenny stepped on his cigarette and rubbed it into the concrete until all the embers were snuffed "But Stan obviously didn't read it either. How come I'm getting all the heat?" he said pointing at Stan with his thumb. "Because Stan isn't fucking failing, you piece of shit!" Kyle all but yelled, throwing his arms in the air for emphasis. "How is he gonna fucking grade me reading a sonnet? Uh yea Mr. Torrez, I read that poem for sure." Kenny wrinkled his eyebrows in irritation. "Dude, we're taking a quiz on it at the beginning of class" Stan interjected. Kenny sighed and kicked at a loose brick in the half wall "Well fuck me" he mumbled "I guess I'm fucked."

Just then the bell rang and the three started shuffling off to class through the back door, just as Cartman's mom was pulling up to drop him off. "Oh dude, why were you so damn early to school today? Usually you're later than fatass is." Kyle asked. They could hear Cartman angrily yell "Hey!" somewhere off behind them. "Oh, Karen stayed home from school today because she's still a little sick. I actually might skip a class to go check on her." Kenny replied, but he didn't seem too concerned by it so the other boys shrugged it off. As they got to class, most of the students were already seated and there was a quiet murmur of conversation as the boys sat down in the middle row. Kenny made sure to sit next to Kyle so he could cheat off of him during the quiz. He tried to look nonchalant about it, but Kyle was already well-aware and looked pretty annoyed about it. Kenny just gave him a shit-eating grin as the class fell into silence the moment the first quiz paper hit the desk. The quiz was pretty hard, but Kenny made it through pretty easily, with Kyle's help of course. Though throughout the quiz, he couldn't help but feel that there were eyes on the back of his head. When he looked behind him, the only person looking up from their quiz was Craig Tucker, the kid who still watched Red Racer after school.

"Ugh, I can't believe we've only made it through half the day." Stan said, slouching in his chair at the lunch table. Kenny pushed his chair back and got up "Well, Ima go check on Karen. Text me if you guys wanna hang after school, okay?" He looked to the other three boys sitting at the lunch table and two of them nodded. The other one didn't even look up from his plate when Kenny got up from the table. "Bye guys, later fatass." Kenny said and ran off before Cartman could retaliate. He walked out to his Chevette in the parking lot and pumped the gas pedal so it would start. The engine wheezed to life and whined when Kenny rolled into reverse to pull out of the parking space.

He drove toward the gate to the chain-link fence that surrounded the junior/senior parking lot and squinted as he saw someone standing in front of the spot sign near the exit to the main road. It was Craig Tucker, standing stretched up to reach the stop sign with his permanent marker. When he stepped back to admire his handy-work, Kenny could see that the sign now read: _"STOP what?" _he giggled a little bit at the new improvement. As he pulled up next to the kid, he rolled down the passenger side window and leaned over "Hey, I'm pretty sure that's a felony or something." The boy seemed to move in slow motion, turning his head to stare at Kenny with light grey eyes. Kenny hadn't actually talked to Craig since middle school, he'd gotten a lot slimmer and taller since then. He also had these brooding impassive eyes that struck Kenny in a way that was dangerous. After a long moment, Craig walked over and leaned into the car window and said "So stop me, faggot."

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"Hey, I'm pretty sure that's a felony or something."

"Hey I'm pretty sure DAT ASS IS A FELONY OR SOMETHING."

I considered actually writing that more than I'd car to admit.


End file.
